


Path That Leads Home, The

by westwingfanfictioncentral_archivist



Category: The West Wing
Genre: Alternate Universe, Original Character - Freeform
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2000-10-12
Updated: 2000-10-12
Packaged: 2019-05-15 02:48:20
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 5
Words: 1,851
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14782211
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/westwingfanfictioncentral_archivist/pseuds/westwingfanfictioncentral_archivist
Summary: Will Roni be able to straighten her life up?





	1. Path That Leads Home, The

**Author's Note:**

> A copy of this work was once archived at National Library, a part of the [ West Wing Fanfiction Central](https://fanlore.org/wiki/West_Wing_Fanfiction_Central), a West Wing fanfiction archive. More information about the Open Doors approved archive move can be found in the [announcement post](http://archiveofourown.org/admin_posts/8325).

The Path That Leads Home

by AJ

Notes: This is a sequel to Struggling Onward. It starts off soon after that one ended.  Thanks to DC, Dallas, and Rhiannon for their help creating this thing.

Disclaimers: Just a girl having fun.

Summary: Will Roni be able to straighten her life up?

After having been sitting up on her bed for a good five minutes, staring at her feet, avoiding eye contact with her parents, Roni finally couldn't take the silence. "Are you two going to say anything?" Roni asked.

Jed pulled the bottle of Jack Daniels out and slammed is down on the nightstand. "What the hell were you thinking?"

Roni winced as he did this. The sound, the anger, it was almost... frightening. "I don't really know. I guess I just . . I wanted to escape."

"You wanted to escape? So it was all about you? It's always about you. What you want. If you want to try to kill yourself, fine. If you want to get drunk, great. As long as it works for you. Right?" Jed thundered.

"No, that's... I don't know, okay? I'm not used to all this sort of crap happening, okay?" Roni said a little sharply. "I mean, it's not everyday that this stuff happens, and maybe I deal with it the wrong way, I guess, but I don't have anything to compare it to."

"Roni..." Abbey said quietly from the chair she was sitting in.

"What?" Roni said coldly.

"Watch your tone of voice with your mother, young lady." Jed snapped.

"FINE!"

"Both of you calm down!" Abbey snapped. Silence filled the room as Jed stared angrily at Roni and Roni just kept quiet. Abbey sighed and looked at her hands.

"Roni, we're taking Dorian." She said softly.

"You're what?" Roni tried to make sense of what she just heard.

"We're taking him from you. As his legal guardians, we have to look out for what's in his best interest. And as your parents, for your best interest as well. Until you start acting responsibly, you aren't allowed to see him." Abbey paused. "At all."

"I don't believe you. How could you do this to me? You know how much Dorian means to me!" Roni cried.

"Well you should have thought of that before!" Jed snapped.

"Stop yelling at me!" Roni cried. "Stop it. Please, stop. Just stop. I know I screwed up, but don't take him from me. Please." She begged.

"Jed, calm down." Abbey said calmly, looking her husband in the eye, knowing what he was going to do. Jed read her look and then looked at his feet.

"Roni, we just want what's best for you and for Dorian. That's it. It kills us to see you like this, and we just want to do what's best." He said finally.

"What's best is to not take Stinker from me."

"That's your opinion. Not ours."

Roni looked up, at both of her parents. She looked them in the eyes...

Deeply in the eyes...

The pain, the hurt, the anger, the love. All so clear, all so visible.

Finally, she had enough. She could no longer look them in the eye, so she turned her gaze to her feet. "Can I have my wheelchair back?"

"Where would you go?" Abbey asked.

"For starters, to the bathroom." Roni replied. "And then the hell out of here.

"You're not going anywhere without your agents." Jed said. "As long as that's clear, you can have it back."

"Thank you." She said quietly.

  


	2. Path That Leads Home, The 2

The Path That Leads Home

by AJ

Jed nodded and left. He came back a moment later with the wheel chair and pushed it up to the bed.

"Do you need some help?" He asked.

"No, I'm fine." Roni said quietly as she moved for the chair.

Suddenly, she slipped and went crashing down to the ground. "Ouch!" She exclaimed.

Jed moved quickly to help her, taking her arm and lifting her a little. "Are you okay?"

"Yeah." She replied.

"Oh my God. You're leg is bleeding." Abbey noticed.

"It's fine. I... I can't feel it." Roni said hoarsely.

"That doesn't mean anything." Abbey retorted, moving to her side. "This is pretty deep."

"I... I don't feel it." Roni repeated softly, the shear weight of the admission crashing down on her.

"We're going to get you to a hospital, kiddo." Jed said, lifting her up and placing her in her chair.

Roni just nodded weakly, unable to think of any words.

After a long pause, she finally spoke again. "It's all I knew to do."

Jed paused and then kissed her head. "Well, there's more to it now."

"It's all I knew. It's what I grew up with." She said softly.

Jed closed his eyes and then looked at her. "All the more reason why you should resist it."

"I know." Roni muttered. "I know."

"And you know that if you ever need our help, for anything, all you have to do is ask." Jed added softly, knowing that sometimes asking was the hardest part. He had to offer anyway.


	3. Path That Leads Home, The 3

The Path That Leads Home

by AJ

The next day, Abbey and Jed were relaxing on the couch in Abbey's office when there was a light tap on the door. "Come in." Abbey called out, and Brad stepped in.

"Brad, long time, no see. Where you been?" Jed asked.

"Are you expecting Roni to come here? I don't want her to know I was here."

"No, she hasn't come back in a while." Abbey said softly.

Brad let out a sigh of relief and stepped further into the office, "I'm really worried about her."

"So are we." Jed muttered. "What's on your mind, Brad?"

"Roni." He said quietly.

"What about her?"

"The other day, when I found her in the tower and brought her back here ... she said something in the truck."

"What?" Abbey asked.

"I don't think she realizes yet, that she told me." Brad said. "But she..."

"She what?"

"She said she was going to split town, go to California with Dorian, and live with Piper and Kat."

"Well," Jed started. "If she wants to go, if she thinks that it will benefit her... but she has to go without Dorian."

"What?" Brad said in disbelief. "You'd let her go?"

"She's a big girl, Brad. And besides, I really don't think that she will go."

"Why's that?"

"Because she's been told that she's not allowed near Dorian until she can act responsible. And she'd never distance herself that far from him." Abbey explained. "And she'd never leave you."

"We broke up. Yesterday, she called me, and I broke up with her." Brad said with a heavy heart. "She's trying to ruin her life, and I can't stand by and watch. Nor will I let my life be ruined as a by-product. But I still love her. I always will, and that's why I came here. I already know, but I need to hear it. I need to hear that you'll help her through this. And you won't let her leave town."

"Of course we'll help her." Jed said.

"And we'll try our hardest to keep her here." Abbey finished.


	4. Path That Leads Home, The 4

The Path That Leads Home

by AJ

"Josh, you in here?" Roni rolled into her father's deputy chief of staff's office.

"Yeah, Roni, what's up, kiddo?"

"I need someone to talk to, and you're the first person I thought of."

"I'm honored. What's on your mind?"

"Nothing... everything..."

"It's got to be something, Roni."

"Yeah..."

"And you obviously want to talk about it, or you wouldn't be here."

"Yeah..."

"So spill it."

"I was thinking of splitting town." She admitted. "But. . ."

"But what?" He asked, his tone growing softer.

"But I don't know anymore. I don't know anything anymore."

"Have you told them yet?"

"What?" She looked confused for a moment. "No, I haven't. Although I came pretty close to it earlier."

"How so?"

"I fell into the nightstand when I tried to get out of bed and I cut myself."

"Ouch!" Josh exclaimed.

"Yeah, ouch." Roni stared down at her leg, at the cut she received the day before. She had told her parents she couldn't feel it. Truth be told, it was causing her so much pain, because she could feel it. She could feel 70% of her legs. 70%. Yet, they didn't know.

"You gonna tell them anytime soon? Or, that you've been going to therapy?"

"I was planning on it, but now... now I'm too mad at them."

"Why?"

"They took Dorian from me."

"Good for them," Josh said sternly, causing Roni to look up at him incredulously.

"Josh!"

"Roni! You know you deserve it. And you know they're only doing it because they love you."

"They didn't have to take him from me."

"Would you have listened any other way?" Josh asked.

"No... I'd probably be sitting in Pipsqueaks house right now if they hadn't."

"Exactly. Now go tell them."

"I don't want them to get their hopes up, Josh. I have feeling back, nothing more."

"Tell them."

"Tell who what?" Jed asked, poking his head in Josh's office.

TBC...


	5. Path That Leads Home, The 5

The Path That Leads Home

by AJ

Roni sat, stunned at the voice she heard, "Nothing, Dad."

"What is it?"

"Nothing."

"Roni, tell them." Josh insisted.

"No."

"Roni, what is it?" Abbey asked, as she moved out from behind Jed.

"Nothing. It's nothing." Roni pushed herself around. "I'm going to my room now."

"Roni, wait. We need to talk." Abbey called out.

"I don't feel like talking. I want to go to my room." And with that, Roni rolled out of the office and down the hallway. All the while, she was acutely aware of her mother's presence behind her. But neither of them said a thing.

Before disappearing into her room, she turned and looked at her mother. Right away she knew what the question was that was burning a hole in her mother's head, but she chose not to answer it. Instead, she just entered her room, and left the door open for her mother.

Abbey saw this gesture and hoped she interpreted it correctly. Entering the room right after her daughter, Abbey closed the door and then made her way over to the blue swivel chair in the corner.

The silence continued as Roni transported herself into her bed and got herself positioned the way she wanted. Then she turned to her mother. Abbey was watching Roni, trying to read her as if she were a book with a story to tell. Which was probably more true than false.

"Roni..."

"I'm not going. I don't know how you found out I was thinking about it, but I'm not going." Roni said, cutting her mother off.

"What changed your mind?"

"I could never leave. You guys are too much apart of me, and I can't abandon that, not when I need it the most." Roni said softly. "I'm sorry Mom. For all the stupid stuff I've done. I promise, no more."

"How am I supposed to believe that?"

"I'm going to prove it to you."

THE END


End file.
